It’s not enough that we have, as a nation, been victimized by British Petroleum in the rape of the Gulf Coast.

Now, in the wake of the release of thousands of ‘sensitive’ documents about the war in Afghanistan by Wikileaks, we see that the U.S. government has been keeping many secrets from us.  Surprise.

I wonder, if Barack Obama had known that the Pakistani special forces fought with the Taliban against the U.S., that civilian casualties have been grossly underreported, that drones often miss their targets and that the Taliban carries missile launchers, he would have still ordered the surge.

I doubt that he knew, because I don’t believe the military respects him enough to have given him the whole story and even kept things from George W.  Consider that McChrystal was instrumental in telling the world that former NFL star Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire after everyone thought he had been killed in a firefight with the “enemy”.

(WH yesterday putting out statements that “of course he/they knew…but this blogger still has her doubts.  Remember when the CIA said Iraq had WMD?  Facts alleged, facts withheld, facts released….)

We do not belong in Afghanistan and we did not belong in Iraq.  Karzi has said for some time that he wants to be free to work things out in his own country.  Let him.

Even after the lesson of Viet Nam and over 50,000 American troops lost, we still think we have the right to occupy other countries and drag them into war.

The biggest American delusion is that we are on call to the rest of the world with a mandate to spread our version of democracy, cramming it down the throats of people who rightfully view us as intruders.  Rage against us is appropriate.

Meanwhile, the cultural and political divide in this country grows.  We are on the eve of the passage of Arizona’s profiling bill into law despite pending challenges to that law on the part of the DOJ.

Angry white American men, purported to be middle class but likely variations on the theme of white trash, have formed the Tea Party and carry signs depicting our president as The Joker and an ape.  Sarah Palin either won’t or can’t shut-up and neither can the talking dough-boys Beck and Limbaugh.

The GOP has swelled its ranks with said garbage and become the party of obstruction, refusing to meet the Administration half way in any and all reforms, so that to rescue the economy and pass health care reform, the Democratic majority has had to act unilaterally.

Now, the Republicans cry foul, saying that Obama has railroaded reforms through.  Yes, he did, because he could, and someone needed to.

In 2008 the American people said, in a decisive voice, that we wanted change.  We favored the new visionary over the old war horse and by majorities in the electorate and the popular vote, we put him in the White House.

The obstructionists can’t stand it when they are accused of the racism that dominates their behavior in Congress and in their states.  But it’s all too obvious.

Now, a brave and visionary young man, Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder,  has dared to expose the U.S. war machine for what it is, online, making over 90,000 documents available for worldwide consumption.  I watched Anderson Cooper and Larry King interview him last night and I was impressed.  He reminded me of what it was like during Viet Nam when we had brilliant and charismatic people on the Left who mobilized millions.

How deplorable all of it is.  Our country is without a conscience and without any vital movements rallying to bring its sins to light.  Men and women–Americans– overboard.